Life Happens
Sometimes life throws you a curveball. And sometimes, apparently, your car catches on fire.
In March 2024, my husband came home from an appointment and parked the car like normal. I was working in my office with the door closed and we had someone at the house doing some work. All of a sudden, I heard yelling. I came out of my office to hear, “Your car is on fire!”
And it was.
There wasn't anything we could do except call 911 and wait. We live quite a way outside of town, so it took about 10–15 minutes for the fire department to get to us. By the time everything was over, the car was gone and the heat from the fire had melted the siding along an entire side of our house.
But we were lucky. Everyone got out safely. No one was hurt. And while there was damage, nothing was destroyed that couldn't eventually be replaced. It was one of those moments that reminds you very quickly that you can't plan for everything.
And apparently, 2024 wasn't finished with us yet.
Just a couple of months later, in May, I got a call from my corporate job. I was being given two weeks' notice that my contract was ending. Our family had a summer full of things planned, not to mention the construction project we were already working on, building a new four-car garage ourselves. We had savings, but that money was earmarked for the new garage. Suddenly, the money we had saved for one goal needed to help us get through something completely different. And that's one of the biggest lessons from that time:
Sometimes your financial plan has to change.
Having savings didn't make losing my income easy. It didn't mean we could continue spending exactly as we had before. We still had to look at our plans, decide what was most important, and make adjustments while I looked for another job. But having that money gave us options. I also know how fortunate we were to have savings available. Not everyone has enough money sitting in an emergency fund to cover months without an income. And if you don't, that doesn't mean you've failed. It means you start with where you are, figure out what needs to be paid first, determine what can temporarily change, and make a plan to move forward.
It took six months, but I eventually started another corporate job. At the time, financial coaching was something I was passionate about, but Juliano Financial Solutions wasn't at a point where it could support my family. I knew building the business I wanted would take time. Two years later, I'm still working at my corporate job, but I'm also still building JFS. Financial coaching continues to be at the heart of what I do, I've added mobile notary services, and I'm continuing to work toward expanding my services in the future. That period taught me a lot about what I tell my clients today.
A budget isn't set in stone.
Your priorities can change. Your income can change. An unexpected expense can show up. Something you spent months saving for may suddenly become less important than something you never saw coming. That's life. Since then, we've worked to rebuild our savings and prepare for the next time something big happens—because eventually, something will. Hopefully it won't involve another car catching on fire.
When my husband and I have tough days, we sometimes look back at where we were five years ago compared with where we are today. We've grown tremendously as a couple and financially, and there have been plenty of setbacks along the way. Then we think about where we could be five years from now. I tell my clients something similar.
Your financial situation today isn't necessarily your financial situation forever.
But changing it usually requires being honest about where you are, deciding where you want to go, and being willing to do the work in between. If life has thrown you a curveball and you're trying to figure out what your finances look like now, you don't have to have all the answers before asking for help. Sometimes the first step is simply getting everything in front of you and figuring out what comes next.
The Only Way Out Is Through